What do you want to know

• Telegram allegedly handed over user data to German authorities on certain occasions.
• These data requests from the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany related to cases of terrorism and child abuse.
• Telegram apparently ignored some requests for other types of criminal cases.

Telegram is one of the best messaging apps that prides itself on respecting user privacy under normal circumstances. However, the service bowed to pressure from German federal investigators and handed over user data in terrorism and child abuse cases, according to a new report.

According to Der Spiegel (opens in a new tab), Telegram has submitted several data requests to the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany. These requests were for information about users suspected of terrorist activities and child abuse.

Android Central has reached out to Telegram for comment and will update this post when we hear back.

The messaging service says it has never given anyone, including governments, access to user data. “To date, we have disclosed 0 bytes of user data to third parties, including governments,” according to the FAQ section. (opens in a new tab) of its website.

However, the company notes that it can only hand over user data “if an issue is serious and universal enough to pass scrutiny in several different legal systems around the world.”

Telegram privacy policy (opens in a new tab) also states that it may disclose a user’s IP address and phone number to government authorities if it receives a court order. This has never happened so far, according to the service.

Der Spiegel reports that the German Federal Ministry of the Interior has demanded that Telegram cooperate with its investigations into criminal groups that use the platform to spread their message.

However, in cases involving other types of criminal activity, Telegram refuses to hand over user data. Still, the latest report highlights some flaws in Telegram’s privacy policy despite pride in its end-to-end encryption.